So, maybe you need PR

To be clear, I don’t offer Public Relations (PR) support. But as a visibility expert, I’m intimately familiar with how it works and the signals that indicate it’s time to engage a talented firm. So here it is. Here’s how you can know for sure.

Let’s say I’ve got some achiness in my leg or foot. 

If it hangs around for long enough, I’ll probably take myself to a masseuse to get that sorted.

Masseuses are great at dealing with pain. Great! Problem solved.

Not if I’m dealing with a fracture.

Don’t get me wrong a masseuse is *incredible* when it comes to dealing with body aches and pains and might even support me in the recovery process. But their skill set is not structured to heal broken bone.

For that you’d need an orthopedic surgeon.

I see this with visibility all the time.

When people want to add more leverage or just hire someone to do it for them, they immediately turn to PR.

And at first blush, that’s not a bad idea.

PR is great for exposure to your best fit audiences. And when you hire them, you’re not only getting access to their expertise and the time and energy that will save you. You’re also getting access to their already built network of contacts. Great! Problem solved.

Not if you’re trying to change beliefs or spread behavior.

A Mismatch

Like with the aforementioned masseuse, a PR firm’s skill set, even their network, is structured for something very specific.

The spread of information.

PR is not structured to spread behavior change or activate new beliefs.

And don’t get me wrong, PR can absolutely assist in the spreading of behavior or belief change.

Afterall, it’s absolutely crucial that people know climate change is an issue and why.

But that information alone isn’t what will activate local, domestic or global change.

So how do you know it’s time to hire PR?

Application

I'd ask yourself these three questions before making the call:

1. How influential is your idea?
   Does exposure to your idea already secure investment in your ideas?
   
   I worked with an organization looking to encourage more engagement between people from underrecognized communities and locally available nature/recreation resources. They came to me because they knew that knowing about local access to the water and all the other abundant resources alone wasn’t enough. Afterall, even those who had the information weren’t taking advantage.
   
   ☝🏿Remember: PR is concerned with your ideas being seen. Visibility Engineering™ is concerned with your ideas catching on.
   
   When folk's stuff isn’t already making it in the door—predictably— PR can and often will become a numbers game, rather than actually amplifying already good results.
   
   

2. Have you already built bridges to the most influential places your idea can be placed?
   Adoption thresholds (remember this?) mean the signal of your idea will need to be reinforced before it’s able to change hearts, minds and behavior.
   
   That looks like the right people, already in community with your intended audience, already on board.
   
   With the client I worked with, we knew there was resistance to the idea of getting out on the water. A huge part of that was the legacy of racism.
   
   ☝🏿Remember: Every idea looking to change behavior will meet Cognitive Resistance. PR isn’t always equipped to tackle this.
   
   One of the ways you tackle that is by making sure there are already examples of the changes you’d like to see more broadly, in whatever passes for the inner circle of your intended audience.
   
   The science has a lot to say about the best kind of folks for that catalyst role. And as always, it will depend on your context. What I can say is that it’s rarely an influencer, but it isn’t just anyone either.
   
   

3. Do you already have a system in place to maintain their attention and then translate it into the outcomes you want?

   Because that will look different for every stakeholder you have.
   
   If everything works as it should and all your hopes for your PR engagement come true; if your idea is in fact already influential and you already have a critical mass of strategically placed catalysts strongly tied to your intended audience (this is what prevents the “I wrote a book and nothing happened” situation or the “I was on Oprah and it did nothing for my business” scenario), you will still only have accomplished step 1 of attention management.
   
   ☝🏿 Remember: You’ll still have to maintain their attention after the fact and then eventually translate that attention.
   
   In the case of the client I worked with, if they had gone the PR route, they would have needed to set up a way to go from a PR piece about water recreation and their org to a community of formerly hesitant folks now on the water, grateful to this one organization for making it so.
   
   Making that happen predictably requires motivational programming—saying the right thing at the right time in the right format—and behavioral design—building an environment that consensually neutralizes cognitive resistance and inspires behavior change.

   (And then they would need to do all that for all of their stakeholders, of which there are at least five types).

Once you have these things in place, you are ready for PR.

I mean then and only then.

...

If you’re considering PR as a solution to your brand visibility concerns, you’ve actually got great instincts. It can be a huge help.

Just remember that even at it’s most strategic, PR is looking to place your ideas where they will benefit from the most exposure to the audience you are hoping to reach.

If you are trying to spread a familiar idea (e.g. climate change is a real problem), this works out great. If you are trying to shift behavior and/or beliefs, there are a few other things you need to have in place first.

Once you make sure your idea is (1) already influential, (2) already reinforced by closely knit catalysts and (3) already supported by a system that can maintain and translate all that incoming attention predictably—no matter which stakeholder you’re dealing with—then you’ll be ready capitalize on a PR investment.

You’re not alone

If it feels like your answer to any one of these questions is, "not quite" that's completely normal and literally why Visibility Engineering™ exists. 

When an idea isn’t already influential—that’s a Platform issue. 

When catalysts aren't yet strategically placed, ready to reinforce your signal, that’s a Circle of Recognition issue. 

When there isn't a means of maintaining and translating the attention of gatekeepers and protagonists alike, that’s an Attention Management System problem. 

With their powers combined, these pieces make up your Ecosystem of Influence. If you’d like support building or refining yours, that's exactly what we do in the Visibility Catalyst Program.